After launch it is usually wise to build some fine units, just in case, but there have been OCC games in which I didn't build a single military unit in the entire game.

quote: Originally posted by Ribannah on 02-06-2001 07:39 AM In some OCC games I gave away ALL techs up to and including Fusion Power, knowing that they did not have the economy to beat me to AC.

Maybe this is my problem; so far (and, admittedly, I'm new at OCC) the AI always has the economy to beat me. Not that its economy is so great, or mine is so bad; quite the opposite. But the space race so far has always been just that -- a race -- and with the AI having dozens of cities to my one, it doesn't have to be that productive in order to be productive enough. I find that a halfway decent AI -- say, the cursed Japanese -- will always manage to pop out something like 10 structurals within a few turns of getting space flight. I find that lead is generally insurmountable.

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Indeed. I had a distinctly surreal experience last week. Opened up a hut on a mountain with a diplo. Out popped a horde of barbarians. I swore mightily and resigned myself to shipping another scout halfway around the world. Finished my turn, hit enter and was astounded to see all of the barbarians run away from my diplomat!!!

I also got 9 barbarians turn tail and run from a diplomat after opening a hut. After recovering from the shock, I almost died laughing! Only happened one time though.

Beyond the excellent diplomat advice, I have found that a fighter or two (veteran when possible) at that late stage of the game is great for expelling enemy diplomats and cleaning up any unwanted barbarian hordes. They can pop out every turn and do very useful scouting work - and if there's trouble on the horizon, you can always give the AI something like The Corporation or Railroad.

I shaved about thirty or forty turns off my game by giving the AI practically every tech' I have in the Ancient Era (as Paul strongly recommends, but I was always hesitant to go pretty well all of the way). It should not be hard to maintain three Alliances and have the remainder at Peace. I also was reluctant to demand tributes from non-allies, but when they're Enthusiastic if not Worshipful, they can be pretty generous. I don't know (given the quirks of the AI's behaviour), but giving them Currency, Trade, Banking and Economics I suspect will make them richer and ultimately more generous with their tributes (?).

I'm assuming you're not playing with the MPG version?